God has other plans

I had not intended to write again tonight because of the bronchitis. Problem is, there is a great article about Wikileaks and it dovetails with my last post. The article discusses how Wikileaks publication of certain government documents regarding the war was criminal.

Wikileaks left the names of hundreds of informants on some documents. There is a very real chance that these people will be killed. The documents were leaked to Mr. Assange or stripped from the web. If they had been leaked to the Afghans we are fighting then that would be traitorous for an American. Mr. Assange is not an American. The release of the documents may make him an enemy. If I release a foreign nations secret documents it is spying.

Somethings are private and somethings are state protected. If I beat my child and break a bone, it should be known. What is rightfully private and what it means to release such information is the line we must understand. The ex gave her boyfriend some of my e-mails to her, they were private and she knew they were just meant for her. She informed me that nothing I ever said to her was private although together 27 years.

The issue is the same in both examples. When do we have a duty to keep things private and when do we have a duty to investigate and possibly report? I believe it depends on the level of trust and the intimacy or risk of harm. I would respect Mr. Assange more if he had either left out the names or took a position in favor of the Afghans insurgents. I can respect releasing our information if he is willing to be treated as the enemy. If he wished to be a reporter then he should have erased ALL the names excluding the President of other elected officials. We have a right to know their decisions.

We have done some bad things in Iraq and Afghanistan, these things should be known; but, not the names. Our need to know and our right to know is so that we can decide as a nation if we want to be in these wars and if we are doing things in the right manner. We don't need the names of the informants to make these decisions unless they are officials.